I am writing you today in regards to HB 1016 – 2011-12, which will change the restrictions regarding firearm noise suppressors.

Currently within the State of Washington suppressors are outlawed from use. I can own them and I can even attach them to my weapon, however the act of discharging causes me to be guilty of committing a gross misdemeanor. To further illustrate how helpless this law is I can drive 5 miles, by road, and be perfectly legal to discharge as I am now in the state of Idaho.

The irrationality of the law in general aside, the central item in question is a safety device. Why is a safety device outlawed from use by the residents of our state? When hunting I must choose between situational awareness and permanent hearing loss. Why must I make this decision, why must I for the safety of those around me suffer permanent hearing damage at the direction of the state? Wearing hearing protection while hunting is unsafe as it limits your ability to hear, including others in the area that you wouldn’t otherwise be aware of. Not only must I suffer hearing damage but people in the surrounding areas who are not partaking in the sport are also subjected to the possibility of hearing damage due the discharge of a firearm. Another example is a pregnant woman who must use a firearm for self-defense, the resulting pressure wave from the shot can do untold damage to the fetus. Yet a simple suppressor could protect the fetus from the shot the mother fired to protect them both.

This law as currently written also applies to law enforcement, including wildlife management. There is no exemption for Section 1: C for law enforcement. This means that when using a suppressor currently our law enforcement is committing a gross misdemeanor. However, law enforcement is allowed to violate this law at their convenience; why do they get an unlawful exemption while law abiding citizens are punished by the government under the guise of “protecting them”?

Changing the suppressor laws would increase not just the health of those in our state involved in the shooting sports as well as those who have firearms within their house for defense, but also create extra revenue in the form of additional sales tax. Many shooters would gladly purchase suppressors for use; however, we do not because of this asinine law. Suppressors are not like you see in the movies, you can still hear it, but it depresses the sound to the point where hearing damage will be less likely to occur. Please, for the health of the shooters in our state, support HB 1016-2011-12.

Barron is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms.

He has a BS in electrical engineering from Washington State University. Immediately after college he went into work on embedded software and hardware for use in critical infrastructure. This included cryptographic communications equipment as well as command and control devices that were using that communications equipment. Since then he’s worked on just about everything ranging from toys, phones, other critical infrastructure, and even desktop applications. Doing everything from hardware system design, to software architecture, to actually writing software that makes your athletic band do its thing.

About Barron

Barron is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms.
He has a BS in electrical engineering from Washington State University. Immediately after college he went into work on embedded software and hardware for use in critical infrastructure. This included cryptographic communications equipment as well as command and control devices that were using that communications equipment. Since then he’s worked on just about everything ranging from toys, phones, other critical infrastructure, and even desktop applications. Doing everything from hardware system design, to software architecture, to actually writing software that makes your athletic band do its thing.

10 Responses to Suppressor Laws In Washington–HB 1016-2011-12

The representatives from where I live are pushing for those changes for this very reason. Only reason it’s hard to get through is the “Peoples Republic of Puget Sound”.

I know how all three of my reps are voting, as well as one of the reps from where I grew up, all of them support it. Sounds like you’re reps from your district are douche bags and should be given pink slips so the rest of the state and keep moving forward. As you replied as an anonymous coward , and by your comment, I’m assuming you’re gun grabber that prefers this law to remain as is to continue to cause injury to shooters. You are a true Puritan sir.

i appreciate you wrote your state rep. I wrote mine as a concerned citizen, as a firearms instructor, and a logical person about how laws should make sense and protect people in regards to 1016. also how the Washington State Council of Police & Sheriffs support the bill.

Nice to know that they support the change, or you can look at it this way, its gives the LEOs a “get out of jail free” card since they are breaking the law too when they use suppressors. One of our coworkers was a Whitman county Sheriff volunteer, even he had no idea it was against the law for their department to use a suppressor. I showed him the RCW and gave him the 411 on the situation, he replied he’d tell his boss…

[…] Why does the government prevent me from using a suppressor for my own benefit? Because someone else at some other time despised it, opposed it, and outlawed it. True criminals still have the pleasure of use, but I as a law abiding citizen have been robbed of this branch of liberty by those who do not understand it. May new fertilizer come to the tree of liberty, that it may grow and flourish again. -B] Barron Barnett's blog […]

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